TWO teams with very little to lose lock horns at St Mary's on Sunday night as Southampton play host to Man City.
After meekly surrendering their Premier League crown to runaway leaders Liverpool, City look determined to take all of the remaining trophies that are available to them and the Blue Moon laid down a marker for next season when they crushed Klopp's champs 4-0 in midweek.
Pep Guardiola's star-studded side have slammed in 15 goals across each of their five fixtures since the resumption, however, they have only managed to take maximum points form three of their last seven Premier League road trips.
Southampton, meanwhile, after suffering a record-breaking 9-0 loss at home to Leicester earlier in the campaign, have shown admirable powers of recovery this season under the stewardship of Ralph Hasenhuttl (below).
Since the restart the Saints have picked up impressive away successes against Norwich and Watford respectively either side of a 2-0 defeat at home to Arsenal.
Last week's 3-1 victory at Vicarage Road saw Southampton move onto the magic 40 point mark and all but secure their top-flight status with six games to spare.
Outright Betting
Southampton have fallen to defeat in each of their last seven meetings with Man City and the bookies expect that sequence to be extended with a home win trading at 17/2 with William Hill while a share of the spoils is also deemed unlikely at 5/1 with Betfred.
Man City are priced up at a general 1/3 with most bookmakers to put Southampton to the sword at St Mary's on Sunday night.
Betting Angles
Southampton, somewhat surprisingly, possess the worst home record in the Premier League this season, having taken a mere 14 points from the 48 on offer to them at St Mary's.
Such fragile home form does not bode well ahead of a meeting with a red-hot Man City side who are motoring and really starting to look like their old selves.
Indeed, there is little value in backing an away win and therefore I have decided to be a bit more creative by making use of Bet 365‘s Bet Builder to combine a Man City win, two or more Man City goals, Man City to take at least one corner in each half and under five match cards at 4/5 with Bet 365.
City, despite their struggles this season, do remain the division's top scorers with a whopping 81 strikes from 32 matches – an average of just over 2.5 goals per game – and they will be coming up against a Saints side who have the leakiest home defence in the top-flight.
With that in mind I'm happy to back Man City to notch a couple of goals on Sunday and I'm not expecting a card-heavy encounter given that referee Andre Marriner can be quite lenient when it comes to getting the book out.
What's more, I'm also attracted to the 6/5 on offer with BetVictor for Man City to score three or more goals in this match given that six of the last seven meetings between these two sides have produced over 2.5 strikes.
A repeat on Sunday looks slightly short at 8/15 with Bet 365, however, I'm happy to have a play on Pep's side to score three or more goals on Sunday given that Man City appear to have rediscovered their mojo.
Furthermore, 14 of the 16 sides to visit this venue this season have made the net bulge and that line of thought adds to the appeal of backing a City side in irresistible form to put at least three past the Saints on Sunday.
This English Premier League match between Southampton and Man City will be played on Jul 5, 2020 and kick off at 19:00. Check below for our tipsters best Southampton vs Man City prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.